Industry News

Starting in January, Ben Carson will be the new secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the department that oversees and implements federal housing and urban policy. I asked GGWash contributors and local housing leaders to take stock of what that means for affordable housing options in the region, and it turns out Carson's reach is unlikely to go that far.

The Obama administration Monday is calling on cities and counties to rethink their zoning laws, saying that antiquated rules on construction, housing and land use are contributing to high rents and income inequality, and dragging down the U.S. economy as a whole.

By Issi Romem The link between housing production and outward expansion is unmistakable: cities that expand more produce proportionally more new housing. Throughout the country, housing production is skewed towards low density areas. Densification has slowed down across the board, and especially in expensive cities, undermining their ability to compensate for less outward expansion.

Long seen as a cornerstone of the American Dream, homeownership increasingly appears out of reach for many millennials. Whether that means the dream is fading-or perhaps just requires a bit of rethinking-remains to be seen. U.S. Census data shows only 39 percent of millennials owned homes in 2015, compared to 47.5 percent for that same age group in 2007.

Chevelle Bushnell has written to her homeowners association about the trash, debris and overgrown shrubbery at the vacant townhouse next door to her home in District Heights, Md. She's called police repeatedly to report break-ins, including one in which thieves cut through the wall of the vacant townhouse to get inside her home.

San Francisco and other large American cities are facing a massive housing affordability problem, with rents spiraling beyond the reach of ordinary people. A fascinating article from the Financial Times argues that Japan may have found a solution to the problem.

Over the next decade, the city's demographics will change dramatically, and housing policy will largely determine who gets to stay. For us to continue writing great stories, we need to display ads. Please select the extension that is blocking ads. Please follow the steps below

The small community of Brisbane, Calif., just south of San Francisco, has a rare opportunity that advocates argue could help ease the region's massive housing crisis. The town is home to a 684-acre plot of former industrial land.

The need for affordable housing in the U.S. is indisputable, with one in four Americans spending more than 50% of their pre-tax income on housing. Habitat for Humanity's Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project, which began in 1984, helps raise awareness of the critical need for decent and affordable housing.

A real estate developer wanted to increase affordable housing in Denver, trying to make fiscal sense out of a plan to build rental apartments for people making only 30 percent of the area's median income-the kind of housing America desperately needs.